Dean praises 'firsts' at Black Excellence Banquet

Following an
address by the first black student ever to attend Elon, Dean Paul Parsons told
more than 300 students and parents at Elon's 10th annual Black Excellence Awards
banquet to honor those who have the determination to be first and to strive for
their own form of excellence.

The main banquet speaker on April 20 was Glenda Phillips Hightower, a retired
nurse living in Durham, who in 1963 became the first black student at Elon. She
left Elon after a year and a half to get married, and years later earned a degree
at the University of Iowa.

Following the presentation of achievement awards to almost 100 black students,
many of them students in the School of Communications, Dean Parsons noted in
final remarks, "It is important to look back at those who paved the way for
today, and it's equally important to look ahead, making sure each of you make a
difference in the world to come."

Parsons told the students that Mrs. Hightower, in a sense, is part of their life
story, and he connected his own life story to nine black teenagers who were the
first in another context.

"The year was 1957, and those teenagers were called the Little Rock Nine,"
Parsons told the audience. "When they volunteered to be the first to integrate a
public school in that city, the segregationist governor called out the National
Guard to block them. President Eisenhower sent federal troops to Little Rock to
ensure integration. The next year, the governor shut down the school to thwart
integration."

Parsons was 9 years old, living in Texas, when his father was asked to become the
new superintendent of schools in Little Rock. His father had successfully
integrated white and Hispanic schools in Texas, and now Arkansas wanted him to
peacefully integrate their schools.

"So I grew up as a teenager in Little Rock, with TV cameras on our front lawn and
reporters calling our house for interviews - and reading the hate mail that my
Dad received from segregationists," Parsons said. "Growing up in the midst of
media scrutiny led me to a career in journalism. If prior events shape who we
become, then my life was shaped in part by nine brave black teenagers who were
the first."